John Wayne Gacy took coulrophobia, the fear of clowns, to a whole new level, burning the image as Pogo the Clown in citizen’s minds for decades, even after his rage came to an end. Gacy was a pedophile, and prayed on young males very much like the animalistic monster he was, taking over thirty people’s lives over a time span of only 3 brief years. John was not only a serial killer, but an enraged, infamous clown who still, to this day, lingers in the nightmares of citizens all throughout Illinois and Iowa, where is ruthless wrath was unveiled right before everyone's, including his own, very eyes.
John’s early life was quite difficult compared to that of a “normal” child. He was born on March 17th, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois (Anderson 1). Gacy
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John’s father was still abusive to him, despite the growth and age jump. His father was also abusive to his mother, and his two sisters as well. At the age of 11, he developed a blood clot in his brain, caused by a a swing hitting him in the head. Nobody would ever know about this blood clot until five years later when the blood clot was discovered at a hospital nearby. The blood clot caused Gacy to have several blackouts and he could not recall events that had happened (Bell 4). When he was a teenager, Gacy was a hypochondriac. As his teen years went on, he finally had enough with his fathers abusive attitude, and he ran away at the age of 20 and headed for Los …show more content…
Not soon after these rumors became reality when Gacy was charged for sodomy against a teen named Mark in 1968. Mark said Gacy had raped him, in the past year. Gacy contradicted his statements, telling the courts that the sex they had, was very much consensual. A mere four months later Gacy was charged for hiring, and paying three-hundred dollars to Andersson to attack Mark, but luckily he was able to escape the torture (Bell 25). After a long waiting period, Gacy was sentenced 10 years in a reformatory, and soon after, Marlynn divorced him while in the reformatory, but this was not the only pain Gacy had during his stay. His father died as well, and Gacy regretted never being able to say goodbye to him (Bell 26)
Gacy was very well behaved while in the reformatory, and got out after only 18 short months, and returned for Chicago. While back in Chicago, he suffered many periods of deep depression, and moved in with his mother. He stayed with her for four months but when he got himself out of depression, he was ready to live on his own, and did in a little neighborhood, with friendly people. After Christmas, he was charged with forcing himself upon a young boy, but from his failure to show up to court, the charges were dropped (Bell